First Come, First Served

Over the years, in your endless search for work day bliss, I imagine you’ve established your routines at work for getting things done. You may have followed the advice of the hottest gurus or just created your own way to balance all the demands made upon you from moment to moment.

So how’s your routine working?

Are you stuck in a few work day ruts? Do you recognize when you’re stuck? Have you been buried by an avalanche of information, succumbed to multi-tasking and gotten sucked into the greatest source of an unproductive work day – reactivity?

Let me share with you 3 common road-side ruts you may find yourself in these days. Are you ready to steer your way out of them and get back on the road to peak productivity?

Rut #1: Treating everything on a “first come, first served” basis
I have clients who have told me they “live from their Inbox” or they complete things as they show up, making it a priority. Do you do that too? Do you drop what you’re doing now so you can do something else just because it’s quick and you’d rather not put one more thing on your to-do list?

If you’re bouncing through your day from task to task as people, phones, and e-mails make more demands on you, you’re treating everyone and everything on a “first come, first served” basis. Then, because everything is a priority, nothing is a priority and your time can easily disappear. Before you know it, you’ve taken care of all those tasks and requests at the expense of your priorities.

Easy solution: You’ll feel good about accomplishing a really big, important task or a few little important ones regularly once you learn how to set boundaries, protect your time and keep your focus. Your work day is not a short-order deli. It’s your work day, with an emphasis on your. You never want to lose too much time focusing on what others deem important, when it’s not one of your priorities… unless it’s your boss making the demands. Then you’ll have to weigh the priorities.

Don’t always have an open-door policy. Don’t pick up the phone every time it rings. Don’t check your e-mail or succumb to the e-mail alerts you have enabled. At other times you will do all of these, but please…. allow yourself at least two hours each day that are all yours, quiet and uninterrupted, to get… things… done!

Rut #2: Your task list is on a cocktail napkin

When it comes to getting to-dos out of your head, it’s true: anything to write on will do. But it shouldn’t stop there.

I’ve seen clients use napkins – both the lunch and cocktail varieties – and even a barf bag from an airplane for writing down to-dos. My client said, “That’s all I had to write on!” Hey, that’s ok with me. It’s is a good first step, but it is not the end of managing those tasks, nor is it even possible to prioritize those tasks with everything else on your plate.

Easy solution: Create a “Mission Control” for yourself, electronically. There should be one place in your computer, hopefully within your e-mail system, that you feed all your tasks, reminders, and to-dos so that no matter where or how you collect these, you bring them back to the mother ship. Then you can reduce the reminders around you and you won’t lose tasks and priorities among the mass of information on your desk.

Rut #3: Following the “Touch it once” advice

You’ve heard that ago-old advice “touch it once” for your papers, files, e-mails, etc. so you can be most efficient and save time later by not touching it again?

Hogwash! Forget it! If you’re failing at doing this and you feel bad about it, let it go. I hereby free you from the guilt! It’s the most ridiculous bit of advice I’ve ever heard. Well, almost, but that’s for another article. This one is near the top of the charts though.

Easy solution: Every time you’re touching something, make a decision on it. That’s the most important point here. You may touch something 10 times in its lifecycle as a task because you’re not always going to resolve it immediately. Not for tasks that require e-mails, calls, research or getting consensus from others. So every time you touch something, anything, make a decision on it and get everything one step closer to done.

Trackbacks

[…] who has helped scores of business executives and others to work smarter, not harder. Read this article and sail into 2011 with real improvements. If you visit Leslie�s website, you can also sign up […]

START TODAY

The 7 Power Steps to Peak Productivity How to Get Where You Want to Go in Less Time with Less Stress

A 7-week, mini e-course to boost your productivity

First Name*

Email*

Subscribe to our newsletters

Action Mobile

Affiliates

Aimcor Group

Broadcast ISP

Finch Services

Order Confirmation - Business Breakthrough Success Series

Order Confirmation - Business Success GPS

Order Confirmation - Consulting - Power Hour Plus

Order Confirmation - Consulting - Welcome AR to Clients for All Consulting Packages

Order Confirmation Special Report - 15 Proven Strategies for More Successful Meetings

Order Confirmation Special Report - Don't Hesitate To Delegate

Order Confirmation Special Report - Get Ready for Take Off

Order Confirmation Special Report - Getting Ahead and Staying There

Order Confirmation Special Report - Task Management Mastery

Order Confirmation Special Report - The Answer

Order Confirmation Taskology HSP

Order Confirmation Taskology HSP Digital

Order Confirmation: Productivity Plus Mentoring Program

Outlook Task Turbocharge

Productive Day Success Kit

Promotion Announce Taskology Bootcamp Fall Preview Call

Promotion Thank you - 51 Tips to Boost Your Productivity

Promotion Thank you - Escape Email Jail

Promotion Thank you - Getting Ahead

Promotion Thank you - Peak Productivity e-book

Promotion Thank you - Road To Peak Productivity

Sales Team Training

Sales: Infinity Support Package

Sign-up E-zine - Productive Day website

Sign-up Popup - 51 Ways to Boost Your Productivity

Sign-up Prospect Confirmation 1012

Sign-up Taskology For Teams Interest

Signup Free Bonus Series - Diamond Package

Signup Free Bonus Series - Gold Package

Signup Free Bonus Series - Platinum Package

Signup Free Bonus Series - Premier Package

Signup Free Bonus Series - Pro Package

Signup Free Bonus Series - Taskology for Teams

Survey For Leaders

Survey: Productive Day Results

Taskology Boot Camp - Prior Participants

Taskology for Teams - Capitol

Taskology for Teams - DentaQuest

Taskology for Teams - Lakeside

Taskology for Teams - Zentech-Dentaquest

Taskology Video Series - Bundle

Taskology Video Series - Electronic Documents

Taskology Video Series - EMail Management

Taskology Video Series - Getting Organized

Taskology Video Series - Task Management

Taskology Video Series - Time Management

Temp

Testing

Thank You 7 Power Steps

Thank You AR – Strategy Session – Inside Edge

Thank you Taskology HSP Pre-Order Sale

Thank You The Answer

We will never share, sell, rent or trade your information.

ABOUT THIS E-ZINE

Work Day Wonders is published twice monthly. You received this publication because you subscribed to it or signed up for one of our programs, products or services. To change your subscription, please click on the unsubscribe link at the end of this e-mail.

We promise never to sell, rent, trade or share your personal information.

Please add leslie@productiveday.com to your whitelist or address book in your email program, so that you have no trouble receiving future issues!